Zimbabweans must resist paying for their own oppression by boycotting ZBC car radio licences

Nothing is more insulting than being made to pay for your own oppression.

The recent promulgation of the Broadcasting Services Amendment Act in Zimbabwe, which compels all motorists to first procure a Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) car radio licence before being eligible to obtain a Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) vehicle licence and third-party insurance, is nothing short of state-sanctioned extortion.

While this new legal provision has been positioned as a necessary intervention to resuscitate the financially crippled ZBC—once touted as the people’s public broadcaster—it is nothing more than a desperate and controversial move that has sparked widespread outrage among Zimbabweans.

This decision to license car radios is as unprecedented as it is unjust.

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In fact, nowhere else in the southern African region does such a requirement exist.

Even in countries where public broadcasters still charge licence fees, these are typically reserved for home and business televisions or radios—not car radios.

It is an outdated and increasingly discredited model, especially in the 21st century, where traditional broadcasting has been overtaken by digital and streaming platforms, offering people a variety of more engaging and credible information sources.

The concept of forcing citizens to pay for a public broadcasting service they neither consume nor value flies in the face of both fairness and logic.

Why should someone be compelled to finance a broadcaster that they never listen to or watch, simply because they own a device that has the capacity to receive its signal?

Around the world, more and more countries are moving away from compulsory broadcasting licence fees.

Public broadcasters are being encouraged to become self-sustaining through commercial avenues such as advertising, subscriptions, or innovative partnerships, rather than relying on forceful extraction from citizens.

If a broadcaster cannot attract audiences and advertisers due to the mediocrity of its content or lack of credibility, then it must face the consequences in the open marketplace like any other media house.

But the situation in Zimbabwe is even more egregious.

It is not merely about outdated policy—it is about the deliberate betrayal of a public mandate.

A true public broadcaster is one that operates in the interest of the people, not the ruling elite.

It must provide balanced, impartial coverage of national issues, represent a diversity of views, and act as a watchdog that holds those in power to account.

That is the gold standard, the global norm, the constitutional ideal—something even a journalism student is taught on their very first day in college.

ZBC, tragically, has abandoned this cause.

Since the emergence of a formidable opposition in Zimbabwe in the year 2000, the broadcaster has descended into a partisan megaphone of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

It no longer carries the voice of the nation—it carries the voice of the few who wield power.

Where a real public broadcaster exposes corruption, amplifies marginalized voices, and interrogates those in authority, ZBC does the opposite.

It shields the powerful from criticism, vilifies dissenters, and sanitizes the failures of government.

This is a broadcaster that serves the political interests of a regime, not the information and developmental needs of a nation.

One only has to look at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to appreciate the stark contrast.

Despite its own challenges, SABC still operates with a degree of independence that allows it to hold ministers, the president, and other powerful figures to account—often breaking the very stories that expose wrongdoing at the highest levels of power.

That is what a public broadcaster should do: speak truth to power, serve as the eyes and ears of the people, and be a forum for democratic engagement.

ZBC, instead, has become a propaganda tool that promotes the interests of those who have impoverished and oppressed Zimbabweans for decades.

This deviation from its constitutional mandate is not just morally reprehensible—it is illegal.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe, under Section 61(4)(b), explicitly mandates all state-owned media to be impartial, to afford fair opportunity for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions.

By systematically suppressing opposition voices and broadcasting content that only flatters the ruling elite, ZBC is in direct violation of this constitutional provision.

It no longer deserves to be referred to as a public broadcaster.

It has become a state-controlled broadcaster—one that has forfeited the right to be funded by the people it routinely undermines and disregards.

Why, then, should Zimbabweans be compelled to finance their own oppression?

Why should we be forced to keep afloat a media institution that has become a cog in the machinery of our suffering?

We must draw a line. We must say no.

And thankfully, the very law that seeks to compel us also provides a loophole that we can legally exploit.

The Broadcasting Services Amendment Act makes provision for motorists without car radios to apply for an exemption from paying the ZBC licence fee.

This is our opportunity to take a stand, legally and peacefully.

Let us remove our car radios.

Let us disable their functionality.

Let us replace them with Bluetooth music players that have no radio receiving capabilities.

After all, the majority of us no longer use these car radios for listening to ZBC or any other local radio station.

Many of the vehicles on Zimbabwean roads are imported second-hand Japanese models, whose radios are incompatible with local frequencies.

Even if they were compatible, many areas of the country do not receive ZBC’s signal, rendering the service irrelevant to large swathes of the population.

More importantly, most of us had already abandoned ZBC long ago, disgusted by its bias and manipulation.

We listen to our own music through USB or Bluetooth, or we stream content via mobile devices.

The ZBC car radio licence is a fee for a service we neither need nor use.

This is a call to action.

Zimbabweans have suffered enough indignity.

We are burdened with taxes, levies, corruption, and poverty—now we are expected to pay to be lied to?

Enough is enough.

While we may be unable to march in the streets for fear of brutal reprisals, and while we may be reluctant to join stayaways out of concern for lost income, we can still register our protest.

Quietly. Legally. Powerfully.

By removing our car radios, applying for exemptions, and refusing to bankroll a broadcaster that long ceased to represent us.

Let this be our message to both ZBC and the government: we will not be taken for fools.

We will not fund propaganda.

We will not pay to be silenced.

Let ZBC learn to stand on its own two feet.

Let it earn public trust before it seeks public funding.

Until then, let us resist with integrity and purpose.

Let us, as a nation, refuse to pay for our own oppression.